A Tip from THE LIST at artcritical.com

Back in 2006 Ken Johnson wrote of Jackie Gendel in the New York Times that “With seemingly off-hand painterly verve, smudgy colors and a sweet sense of humor [she] creates smart and sensuous, semi-abstract riffs on Modernist portraiture.” Fast forward to her current exhibition at Thomas Erben where, the press release informs us, “Gendel’s fine balance of letting go and focusing in causes the paintings to change and to morph, confounding the categories out of which they were made. What was charmingly decorative becomes permeated by a sense of instability.” Perhaps hearing from the artist herself at her 4pm talk Saturday will help the viewer decide between sweet and smart sensuousness and confounding instability-or else license us to luxuriate in both.